Indiana University - NPC predictions

[33girl]

But then you get a chicken and egg situation. When rushees are saying "I really liked ABC but I want to live in a house"- how can they get stronger with that mindset? And as discussed before, if you market yourself as not having a house as being a positive, then you get the kind of members who might not want to do other things affiliated with IU Greek life either.

[glittergal1985]

Originally Posted by 33girl

But then you get a chicken and egg situation. When rushees are saying "I really liked ABC but I want to live in a house"- how can they get stronger with that mindset? And as discussed before, if you market yourself as not having a house as being a positive, then you get the kind of members who might not want to do other things affiliated with IU Greek life either.

I think the unfortunate reality right now is that PNMs do have that mindset and are ranking unhoused groups last for the most part, and that the unhoused groups are left to choose from the PNMs who have been funneled down after the house groups have taken their picks. The fortunate part is that there are so many PNMs that the unhoused groups are still left with a large pool of worthy women to choose from. It is my understanding that we are all maintaining healthy sized chapters of quality members, it's just the stigma of being an unhoused group that we have to deal with. As far as marketing being unhoused as a positive, I'm betting that the number of women choosing unhoused groups for the fact that they are unhoused is minuscule at best. I think it is more of a case of a PNM wanting ABC badly enough that they are willing to overlook the lack of housing, rather than wanting ABC because it is unhoused.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by glittergal1985

I think the unfortunate reality right now is that PNMs do have that mindset and are ranking unhoused groups last for the most part, and that the unhoused groups are left to choose from the PNMs who have been funneled down after the house groups have taken their picks. The fortunate part is that there are so many PNMs that the unhoused groups are still left with a large pool of worthy women to choose from. It is my understanding that we are all maintaining healthy sized chapters of quality members, it's just the stigma of being an unhoused group that we have to deal with. As far as marketing being unhoused as a positive, I'm betting that the number of women choosing unhoused groups for the fact that they are unhoused is minuscule at best. I think it is more of a case of a PNM wanting ABC badly enough that they are willing to overlook the lack of housing, rather than wanting ABC because it is unhoused.

This. I doubt very seriously that there are very many women walking around campus saying, "Geez, I'd really like to be a part of that Greek scene but I sure hate those giant Greek houses." They likely don't want to be in Greek life for many other reasons. The house isn't the thing keeping them out. For many people, even in our campuses without Greek housing, a giant chapter house is the DREAM. I'm not really sure why since it is usually expensive, cramped and not that nice (unless you are in one of those new houses which are still expensive, cramped but maybe a little nicer.)

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by AOII Angel

This. I doubt very seriously that there are very many women walking around campus saying, "Geez, I'd really like to be a part of that Greek scene but I sure hate those giant Greek houses." They likely don't want to be in Greek life for many other reasons. The house isn't the thing keeping them out. For many people, even in our campuses without Greek housing, a giant chapter house is the DREAM. I'm not really sure why since it is usually expensive, cramped and not that nice (unless you are in one of those new houses which are still expensive, cramped but maybe a little nicer.)

I agree with this statement. I believe that there is a small percentage of women who would rather not live in a large chapter house, because I was one of those women back in my day.

Today's PNMs have grown up more affluently that many of us in our day. By this I mean, when I grew up many of my girl friends in high school shared a bedroom with a sibling and shared a bathroom with either all of their siblings or the entire family. Very few of my friends had televisions in their bedrooms, I was the only one. We had no personal computers, cell phones, netflix, etc.

I teach in a high school and only a small handful of my students share a bedroom with a sibling. In one case, the girls share because they are twins and like it. There is another bedroom available, they would just rather share. My seniors have mentioned being in a sorority quite often lately because they are filling out housing forms for their respective schools. I always let them know what the living situations are at their schools. Most of the girls do not mind the inconvenience of sharing a room, having no closet space, and using a communal bathroom. They know it is for a few years at most. BUT there are always one or two who do not want to live that way. They want their own space, or like to cook. So even with all of the modern conveniences PNMs have today, most of them can handle living in a Greek house for a couple of years.

At IU, I think one issue of living in might be for girls who pledge as sophomores and have lived in an apartment for a year. They might not want to move back into that situation after living out for a year. There are also girls who are on special diets: diabetic, gluten free, paleo, food allergies. This is also hard to do in a sorority house. You might think this is a small number of women, but you would be surprised how many people are on special diets. Choosing a restaurant for a field trip can be an ordeal....but that's another topic.

From what I have observed, the live in culture at IU is changing somewhat. It's just changing at a glacial pace. A friend's daughter went through recruitment at IU this winter and when she ranked her chapters after pref, the live out policy came into play. She ranked the chapters who allowed senior live outs over the chapter who did not. She liked all three equally well, but was self aware enough to realize she wanted to live out senior year. Her next door dorm neighbor ranked an unhoused chapter over a housed chapter because she "didn't want to be stuck living in all three years" as she put it. I do think things are changing....just very, very slowly.

[maconmagnolia]

Originally Posted by IndianaSigKap

I agree with this statement. I believe that there is a small percentage of women who would rather not live in a large chapter house, because I was one of those women back in my day.

Today's PNMs have grown up more affluently that many of us in our day. By this I mean, when I grew up many of my girl friends in high school shared a bedroom with a sibling and shared a bathroom with either all of their siblings or the entire family. Very few of my friends had televisions in their bedrooms, I was the only one. We had no personal computers, cell phones, netflix, etc.

I teach in a high school and only a small handful of my students share a bedroom with a sibling. In one case, the girls share because they are twins and like it. There is another bedroom available, they would just rather share. My seniors have mentioned being in a sorority quite often lately because they are filling out housing forms for their respective schools. I always let them know what the living situations are at their schools. Most of the girls do not mind the inconvenience of sharing a room, having no closet space, and using a communal bathroom. They know it is for a few years at most. BUT there are always one or two who do not want to live that way. They want their own space, or like to cook. So even with all of the modern conveniences PNMs have today, most of them can handle living in a Greek house for a couple of years.

At IU, I think one issue of living in might be for girls who pledge as sophomores and have lived in an apartment for a year. They might not want to move back into that situation after living out for a year. There are also girls who are on special diets: diabetic, gluten free, paleo, food allergies. This is also hard to do in a sorority house. You might think this is a small number of women, but you would be surprised how many people are on special diets. Choosing a restaurant for a field trip can be an ordeal....but that's another topic.

I know next to nothing about Indiana's greek system, besides the small amount of information I've read on this site, but I'll weigh on on why some people may not want to live in. Some people just have different personalities. For me personally, I'm more introverted. I had a roommate in the dorms freshman year and currently live in the house as a sophomore. While I am so glad I had the opportunity to live in, I'm excited to have my own space next year. I'm the type of person who really values my alone time, and while I love spending time with my friends and sisters, I like to have my own room where I can unwind by myself without having a roommate or roommates. Plus, since we all have different class schedules, it'll be nice to sleep in without hearing alarms go off at different times, get ready without having to be quiet because someone is sleeping, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love my roommates, and I've been very lucky to not have any negative experiences with roommates. I just like my own space. I know a lot of girls who feel this way, especially after sharing a room freshman and sophomore year with one or more girls. I couldn't imagine having to share a room for three or four years. But then again, that's just my introverted personality coming into play.

However, I know that if I didn't get the chance to live in, I would have been upset as I really wanted to live in the house at some point. It's just that one year of living in has been a good amount of time for me and I'm ready for my own space.

In my sorority, I actually know a lot of girls who chose to move in second semester freshman year instead of the usual sophomore year, because our chef was able to more easily accommodate their special diets (gluten free, etc) better than the campus dining halls that those in the dorms eat at. I think that a lot of progress is being made in terms of accommodating people who have special dietary needs.